Wisdom I Learned from The Sound of Music

When I was growing up, one of my mother's favorite movies of all time was The Sound of Music. She loved it so much that she actually named my baby sister Gretel after the youngest VanTrapp child. Needless to say, I have seen Sound of Music over and over and over.

A little over a week ago, Jimmy found out he was being let go from his position at the church. It was very short notice and definitely unexpected (since it had more to do with church politics than job performance). Since then I have been praying about what we should do and the direction God may be leading us in now. Which brings me back to--you guessed it--The Sound of Music.

More than once in this musical classic, Maria says, "When God closes a door somewhere He opens a window." That's where I feel like we are right now. God has closed the door on our ministry at McCarthy (for whatever reason) and now He is directing us to find the window He has opened.

So please pray for us as we seek God's direction. It is a very stressful time, but also an exciting time. I know, right now you are giving me a bewildered look and saying "Exciting? Are you completely off your rocker!" But I assure you it is.

Since Jimmy had the weight loss surgery in October he has lost 190+ pounds and we are able to consider more ministry options than ever before. We are even praying about whether or not God may be leading us to bigger and more adventurous things.

I will be sure to keep you informed as we see where God is directing us. Until then I simply want to say thank you in advance for all of your prayers and support!

Grace and peace,

Christiana

God Uses Imperfect People

Life happens. People makes choices--good and bad everyday. Then we judge ourselves and others based on those choices.

I guess I have been thinking about this a lot lately. So when I saw the video "Flaws of Biblical Proportion" on a local churches Facebook page I thought I would share it with you. It's a funny, creative skit about all the "messed up" people that God used to do great things.

I hope you enjoy this video and get a few laughs while you remember that God can use flawed people like me and like you.

Flaws of Biblical Proportions - Finding the Perfect Small Group Leader from rightnow.org on GodTube.

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Praying for Difficult People

Hello, everyone! Happy New Year! Yes, sadly this is my first post of 2013. I feel like such a slacker.

A lot has been going on in the Mustion house lately. We started the new year with Jimmy taking a trip to the emergency room and then being admitted into the hospital for a two day stay. Needless to say, things have been hectic.

Unfortuntely, not only was Jimmy's illness uncomfortable for him and down right scary for me it has also caused other unforeseen complications. Namely that my boss doesn't understand the concept of taking care of family and making sacrifices for your spouse. Since I have returned to work after Jimmy recovered, she has done nothing but pick at me over the smallest details and tell me that I need to shut out the rest of my life when I am as work because work is the most important.

It has literally been one thing after another for the past two weeks. I feel like I am constantly tip toeing around on eggshells, and I have shed more tears in the past two weeks than I have in the past two years. It's incredible how stressful this environment can be.

But I had a realization today...

During my quiet time I was reading about love from the book of Romans chapter 12. Up until this point, I have been focusing on how miserable my boss has made my life and all the stress that has put on me and my marriage when I bring the stress home from work, but never once have I stopped to pray FOR MY BOSS. I have prayed about the situation--mainly that God would deliver me and make it stop--but I have never prayed for HER.

It made me think. What must be going on in her life that would make her treat someone this way because they took time off to be with their husband while he was in the hospital? Maybe she doesn't understand what family is like because her whole world is her job and her two cats. Have I missed an opportunity to bless her because I haven't prayed for her earlier?

It gave me a different perspective when I stopped to think about it. I may not love my boss or the way she is treating me but God loves her. She probably really needs God's love right now. So I stopped and tried to genuinely pray for her and not just that she will stop being mean to me, but actually that God will genuinely touch her and bring peace to her life.

It wasn't easy and I am no saint. Still I realized today that praying for people that are difficult is important. It is a realization that I will have to make a conscious effort to employ. But I am sure that God will be more than willing to help me with it.

Grace and Peace,
Christiana